Gas Safety Certificates and EPC London for Smooth
Sales, Rentals and Legal Peace of Mind
- £60 inc. VAT Fixed Fee London EPC for Sale or Let
- Much Cheaper than buying through your estate agent
- Receive your Energy Performance Certificate within 24 hours of visit
- Friendly, Reliable, Local Service
- Accredited Domestic Energy Assessors
Take the Next Step and Order Your Fixed Fee Certificate Today!
If you are a landlord or property owner and need to understand and arrange an EPC assessment, look no further. SLEPC have been providing Energy Performance Certificates across London for many years. Let us explain exactly what an EPC is and the process required to get one.
EPC’s, or Energy Performance Certificates, are required by law for the Sale and Let of properties. You can see an example Certificate above, this is the standard template all EPCs follow. For Landlords, New Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) legislation has meant that from April 2018 you can’t let a property with less than an E Rating. There is an aim to increasing the requirement to a C Rating in the coming years.
For homeowners looking to sell in London the Energy Assessment is an advisory tool, indicating how much a property may cost to run and how it can be improved. The report also highlights any changes you have made to your property since it was last checked and can add value to prospective buyers.
Who needs an EPC?
As a Landlord or Homeowner it is important to have a valid Energy Performance Certificate in place before you rent or sell a property to prospective buyers/tenants. This is not only a legal requirement, property sites such as Zoopla also refer to Energy Performance Certificates as part of their data collection to give indicative valuations.
Energy Certificates are easy to read, displaying the rating on a scale from A to G. If your property has an A Rating then this will be the most affordable to run and more energy efficient. If the property attracts a G Rating it will be expensive to run and may require updating before being lived in.
The EPC has recommendations on it which indicate a cost for implementing and an idea of how much they may save over a year on bills. If you need to achieve a C Rating and are unsure, maybe we can help, visit our service page for further info on achieving a C Rating.
Read on for more information about the process and how we can help. If you want to find out about an existing Certificate, follow this link for more information on the Government’s EPC Register. Its worth noting that Domestic EPCs are valid for 10 years, after which another Energy Assessment will have to be undertaken.
EPCs in a nutshell
Really an EPC indicates the energy efficiency of a property based on how expensive it is to light and heat.
It considers various factors such as:
- Size of property – How much space do you Heat and Light?
- Fabric for the Building – How good is it at keeping in the Energy you use?
- Method of heating – Gas Boiler/Electric Heating?
The energy efficiency of a property is shown through a rating system from A to G. An ‘A’ rated property is very efficient and the cheapest to heat. A ‘G’ rated property will be very expensive to heat due to things like solid brick walls, no fixed heating solution and no insulation.
What is the process to get a London EPC?
The Certificate must be produced by a member of an approved Government Scheme (we are members of all the main bodies including Elmhurst and Quidos) they are known as Domestic Energy Assessors (DEA’s).
Our Energy Assessor will visit your property and take measurements, floor plans and photographs of all of the elements involved. This includes Heating and Lighting Systems, Glazing, Insulation and Buidling construction. Following the energy assessment visit they will use approved software to model the building efficiency utilising the Reduced Standard Assessment Procedure, or RDSAP for short. This will calculate the efficiency of your property and where improvements can be made based on heat loss calculations for each element. Ultimately the report will indicate an estimated cost of running your property and where potential savings could be made.
The output of this is your Energy Performance Certificate, the report is lodged on the government register and is then publicly available.
The EPC Report
As discussed, EPC rating is based on a scale of A-G, as displayed above, with A being the best rating and G the lowest. (‘A’ ratings are usually only achievable by super insulated properties with renewables). This means that home owners and occupiers can compare the energy efficiency of different properties in a similar way to comparing the energy performance of fridges or freezers.
As a rule of thumb the average rating for a UK property is around 60, or a Mid ‘D’ Rating, unfortunately we lag behind our European counterparts in this area. Most properties can get to a C rating without having to implement massive improvements, with gains coming from updating insulation, heating systems and glazing (although this can be very expensive).
The Energy Performance Certificate EPC includes a recommendation section which lists the potential improvements that can be made to a property in order to:
Cut fuel bills
Improve energy efficiency
Help cut carbon emissions
There are four main sections in the report:
1. Energy Efficiency rating and potential savings
2. A summary of energy performance features
3. The recommendations for improving the energy efficiency
4. Details of the properties environmental impact
Most properties in London have an EPC now, you can click on the following link to check the register of all lodged EPC‘s on the government site. This is useful as you will see nearly all London properties on there and can check any property for free, compare with your neighbour, or even check the rating of a property you may be looking to purchase.
Energy Performance Certificates arent without their limitations however, as this article in the Guardian from 2024 discusses EPCs and their pitfalls
How much does an EPC London cost and how do you pay?
Costs vary massively between providers, we’ve heard of agents charging £270 (and then paying us £60!). Some providers have a low initial fee advertised and then add on additional room costs when you come to book, we prefer to keep things simple and charge a flat fee of £60 (£50+VAT) this can be paid by cash or bank transfer on invoice, at which point your EPC will have already been lodged on the gov.uk register.
Why use SLEPC?
Based in London (Croydon), as your local EPC Providers, we realise the Sale and Let of properties can be very stressful so we try to offer a service which is convenient and reliable and we don’t charge a penny until you have the completed Certificate. Give us a call, or just fill in your details on the form and we’ll be in touch. Need to get a Gas Safety Certificate too, then check out our Gas Safety Certificate page.
Commercial EPC
Whether you have a residential or commercial property, a report is required. Commercial buildings require their own reports via an energy assessment visit that can only be conducted by a Commercial Energy Assessor. Please contact us directly for more information on this process as costings are directly linked to the size of the commercial building.